Jordan Montgomery was one of the best MLB free agents on the market last winter. The veteran starting pitcher was excellent after a mid-season trade to the Texas Rangers, posting a 2.78 ERA in his 11 starts with the club on the way to a World Series championship. The team Texas beat to win the World Series was the Arizona Diamondbacks. As Montgomery lingered on the market until Spring Training, Diamondbacks owner Ken Kendrick saw an opportunity to improve the team’s rotation and pushed for the front office to sign him.
The 2024 MLB Playoffs are now set, and the Diamondbacks were left on the outside looking in. The team was eliminated from the postseason during Monday’s electric double-header between the Atlanta Braves and New York Mets. Arizona one team to sweep the double-header to make the postseason, but instead the teams split, leaving the D-Backs out the playoffs.
As the Diamondbacks were reckoning with missing the playoffs a year after playing in the World Series, Kendrick went on local radio in Arizona and did something you rarely see from a pro sports owner: he blamed himself for signing Montgomery.
“If anyone wants to blame anyone for Jordan Montgomery being a Diamondback, you’re talking to the guy that should be blamed.”
D-backs managing general partner Ken Kendrick on the signing of Montgomery in the offseason.
Full interview: https://t.co/c9zHhCcebT pic.twitter.com/4wfNmwihSX
— The Burns & Gambo Show (@BurnsAndGambo) October 1, 2024
Here’s the full transcription:
“If anyone wants to blame anyone for Jordan Montgomery being a Diamondback, you’re talking to the guy that should be blamed,” Kendrick told Arizona Sports. “Because I brought it to [the front office’s] attention. I pushed for it. They agreed to it — it wasn’t in our game plan. You know when he was signed — right at the end of spring training. And looking back, in hindsight, a horrible decision to invest that money in a guy who performed as poorly as he did. It’s our biggest mistake this season from a talent standpoint. And I’m the perpetrator of that.”
Montgomery had by far the worst season of his career with Arizona. He finished posted a 6.23 ERA and 1.65 WHIP in 21 starts, giving up 149 hits in 117 innings. Yikes.
It feels like player performance has more peaks and valleys in baseball than any other sport. Montgomery had been a reliable starting pitcher throughout his career, but it all fell apart this season. Arizona gave him a two-year, $47 million deal with a player option for 2025. That option stands at $22.5 million for next year, and he’s certain to pick it up.
Could Montgomery bounce back next year? Sure. Baseball is weird like that. It’s just so rare you hear an owner throw a player under the bus like this while at the same time blaming himself for the signing.
